The average reader of this blog will have concluded that some of the Catholic themed portions of The Year of the Rabbit are influenced by the author’s upbringing.

Catholic girl’s first communion

I have fuzzy memories of my First Communion and squinting in the bright sun so that someone could take this photograph. Perhaps I was still processing the “Body of Christ” and “Blood of Christ” symbolism.

It was either fuzzy memory of the event or a bad dream of dropping my little Bible into the Seguin River on the way home while struggling to peer over the railing at something one of my siblings spotted in the water below. Distant memory still recalls that mortified feeling.

As a small child attending Church, I was afraid to look up at the large statue of Jesus on the cross, his sad eyes and his wounds dripping with blood.

In The Year of the Rabbit, Sera Fletcher was allowed spend her Sunday mornings with the Johnsons, the kind neighbours who encouraged her to read Bible stories from Baptist and Coptic sources. After church, the Fletcher family and close friends gathered for brunch at the Red Hare restaurant.

If you haven’t read the novel yet, take a detour to Smashwords to download a sampling of the ebook format. See also what other readers have offered about the novel. If the notion grabs you, purchase a copy of the entire novel. You get to set the price. How do you like them apples?